#CSW65, money, marriage, ERA and more!

The Oldest Progressive Muslim Organization in America

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A Year Ago

March 15-26 are the dates for this year’s Commission on the
Status of Women (CSW). This time last year marks the last time I
got on a plane! Happy to report, at this time of writing I have
received my first shot of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination, and
before long I will look forward to travelling and being in the
field again rather than cooped up in my home office.

This month’s newsletter is a little late so as to be able to
provide all the information on events at CSW65 we will be
involved in and/or organizing. Do check the events offered and
join me for our panel on reforming the Kadhi court in Kenya.

Staying with the women’s rights theme. Here in the U.S. there is
a very hard push for the 28th constitutional amendment, the Equal
Rights Amendment, that will insert “non-discrimination on the
basis of sex” language. If you haven’t noticed, we are still very
behind in the protection of women as well as LGBTQ+ rights. To
learn more about ERA, and MPV’s involvement in it, scroll to our
media section. Good news is that President Biden is an ally and
on March 8 he issued a statement ( [link removed] ) in establishing a Gender Equality Council.

With Covid-19, MPV and many of our partner organizations have
seen a drastic drop of funding for our work. I am not really sure
how to explain it away. We are not in the business of finding a
cure for Covid-19, and the issue of human and women's rights
haven’t gone away. If anything, studies have shown that COVID has
resulted in a huge setback to the progress made.

So, in the last few months, at MPV we have restructured ourselves
to create an income stream in the wedding services we have been
providing for the past 15 years -- particularly for the many
Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men, and without the fake and
forced conversions expected of the non-Muslim partner. Visit our
interfaith Islamic marriage page ( [link removed] ) for details, and do
share. And while you’re there, check out the theological basis
for the permissibility of such an interfaith wedding.

In addition, we have created a progressive Islam Chaplain
endorsement services ( [link removed] ) for those who want
to be endorsed by an institution with our inclusive worldview. It
is interesting to start seeing hospitals, prison systems calling
us for recommendations of such Muslim chaplains.

And lastly, the Inclusive Islam Curriculum rooted in human rights
for children ages 4-7 is complete! Stand by for the launch date.

So, we will prevail. Onward and upward…

Ani Zonneveld
Founder, president

U.N. Updates: Commission on the Status of Women

MPV will be involved in four side events:

MPV’s own side event, co-sponsored by the Foreign Ministry of
The Netherlands

March 24: A Women's Rights Compliant Sharia Court
10:00 a.m. EDT (7 a.m. PDT/5:00 p.m. Kenya)

This event will feature our Kenyan partner African Muslim Women
Action Network (AMWAN), the Chief Kadhi of Kenya, and a Sharia
law expert. Opening remarks will be by Mr. Jos Douma the Special
Envoy for Religion and Belief. Here ( [link removed] ) is the event page. Do share!

Speakers:
Opening remarks - Mr. Jos Douma - Special Envoy Freedom of
Religion and Belief, Foreign Ministry of The Netherlands;
Ms. Ani Zonneveld - Muslims for Progressive Values, founder and
president; Chair.
Ms. Ulfat Hussein - AMWAN, founder and director;
Mr. Al Muhdhar A.S. Hussein - Cheikh Kadhi of Kenya;
Ms. Mwanakitina Abubakar - Sharia law expert

MPV is offering a guest perspective in the following panels.

March 16: “Women in Faith Based Organizations”

10:30-12:00 p.m. EDT

Organized by the World Jewish Congress, a conversation to be
introduced by Alana Baranov of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps with
female Rabbi Rav Maya Leibowitz and imam Ani Zonneveld.

This is an excellent opportunity to underline our commitment to
gender diversity and equality while examining the crucial role of
bridge building across religious and geographic divides in order
to address today’s global challenges. RSVP here ( [link removed] ).

Other speakers and panelists include:

Dr. Husna Ahmad (CEO of Global One); Prof. Azza Karam (Secretary
General, Religions for Peace), Elaine Neuenfeldt (ACT Alliance),
Mr. Amichai Wise (Member of WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps)

March 21: “Shared Stories: Culture, Religion &Women's
Empowerment”

12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT

Organized by ISKCON Vaisnavi Ministry, co-sponsored by ACT
Alliance and MPV. The premise of this panel is ensuring religious
diversity and inclusion in global faith-based advocacy on
women’s empowerment in support of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.

Goal: To share and understand important cultural variations in
how a society values the
individual, the family and the community, and how non-western
countries and varied religious
communities address female empowerment. To identify
language/concepts/tools/structures that help
develop culturally inclusive female empowerment programs.

Speakers:
Radha Devi Dasi (Women’s Ministry, ISKCON)
Gladys Nairuba (Co-Chair, ACT Alliance Africa, Gender Community
of Practice)
Ani Zonneveld (Muslims for Progressive Values, founder,
president, and Alliance of Inclusive Muslims)

March 23: “Equality in Family Law: Committing to Reform”
10:00-11:30 a.m EST

Organized by Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law

Government Sponsors and UN Co-Host: Maldives, Sweden, UN Women.

Civil Society Sponsors:
● Act Church of Sweden
● CLADEM
● Equality Now
● Musawah
● Muslims for Progressive Values
● SOAWR represented by FEMNET
● Women’s Learning Partnership

This objective of this panel is to encourage government
commitments for family law reform with concrete actions, using
all platforms to support and hold each other accountable to these
commitments and reforms - treaty bodies, UPR, Generation Equality
Forum, SDGs / HLPF, etc.

Program and Speakers:
* Welcome by Representative of the Global Campaign for Equality
in Family Law and Moderator, Femi Oke, International Journalist,
Moderate the Panel
* Opening Remarks by Government Co-sponsors* High-level
Representative from Sweden & other Government Ministers

* High level talk-show style panel of speakers* H.E. Aisha
Mohamed Didi, Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services,
Maldives
* H.E. Mayra Jiménez, Minister of Women, Dominican Republic and
President of OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
* Scarlet Bishara, Judge, Ecclesiastical Court of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
* Melissa Upreti, Vice-Chair, UN Working Group on Discrimination
against Women and Girls

* Contributions from the floor - primarily from member states
* Closing Remarks - Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

To learn more about CSW65 Parallel Events, visit NGO CSW65
Parallel Event Schedule ( [link removed] ). To
register for the conference visit here ( [link removed] ).

Book of the Month

We recommend you check out this beautiful book of artwork by the
artist Maira Hamid out of the U.K. titled “The Expression of Art
inspired by The Holy Quran.”

Chapter Updates

MPV-LA

March 20: Our monthly and virtual progressive Quran reading group
continues. This dedicated group of about 25+ has grown to include
attendees from Canada, U.K., Bosnia, and various parts of the
Arab world. For details, check out our page ( [link removed] ).

MPV-NY

March 11: MPV-NY will begin the 2021 series of Monthly Quran
Reflections. This month’s reflection will be based on Isra and
Mi’raj. For information on the event and to sign up, please refer
to MPV-NY’s FB event page ( [link removed] ).

MPV-Boston

On March 5, MPV-Boston held a monthly event about “Progressive
Muslims in 2020 elections.” Guest speaker for this event was
Feroza Sysd. Feroza ( [link removed] ) is a trans activist and advocate. She is also one of the
appointees to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s historic first LGBTQ
Advisory Board for the City of Atlanta. After coming out to a
viral Facebook post as a trans woman living in anonymity, Feroza
has quickly jumped into activism head on with involvement in
Trans housing Coalition, Desi Q Diaspora, Stonewall Pride
celebrations in Atlanta, and various tremendous efforts for local
communities. Feroza shared her incredible journey of being an
immigrant, south Asian, Muslim, trans and women with many
inspirational stories and uplifting words for progressive Muslim
organizers.

April 2: MPV-Boston will host their monthly event about
‘Misogyny, Gender roles and Muslims’. Please RSVP by using this
link ( [link removed] ).

MPV-San Francisco Bay

On February 21, MPV-San Francisco Bay Area had a session with
discussion on “Islam and the Secular.” Portions of that will be
posted after the video is edited.
On March 21, MPV-San Francisco Bay Area will have an interactive
group "Healing Our Wounds from Cultural Dogma - Finding a Way to
the Truth in Islam" led by Muna Al Sheikh an activist and
therapist from Santa Cruz. More details will be posted this week
on our Meetup Group ( [link removed] ) and our Facebook Page. ( [link removed] )

MPV in the News

In a long-form conversation with Dr. and Imamah amina wadud’s
“Friends Along the Way ( [link removed] )” series,
Ani Zonneveld sings a song, discusses her experiences from using
music in her human rights work as well as her grassroots,
education, policy and UN work.

Equal Rights Amendment Coalition | Faith Communities and the ERA
Town Hall ( [link removed] ) | March 5, 2021

Baptist News Global | Diverse religious coalition urges Congress
to finalize the Equal Rights Amendment ( [link removed] )| February 26, 2021

India: Freemuse | Joint call for the dismissal of all charges
against Munawar Faruqui and his friends ( [link removed] ) | February 12, 2021

Indonesia: Pewarta Indonesia | Natal Kini Dirayakan Juga oleh
Non-Kristen, Mengapa? ( [link removed] ) | December 26, 2020

In This Issue:
* President's Greeting
* U.N. Updates
* Book of the Month
* Chapter Updates
* MPV in the News

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